Give in to Me
by skepticalSynonymic
Summary: "He's been gone for five years, then all of a sudden, he's back? And he expects things to pick up where we left off?" Dib struggles with the return of his first, and at one time, only friend, and struggles with how much they both have changed since high school, and especially since they first met. [ZADR in future chapters. Swearing and sexual content.]
1. Chapter 1: Beginnings

**Alright, I figured it was time I found somewhere to start publishing this story. I'm not very far into it, so I'll be posting chapters slowly so I can stay ahead of the game.**

 **A/N: I do not own any of the characters in Invader Zim. I do, however, co-own the OCs/fancharacters. A few were created by a friend, and if she requests, the characters will be removed and replaced. I have few-to-no references to her OCs, so hopefully they're as close to their original as possible.**

 **This story is slightly AU-the characters aren't 100% true to the TV show, but I did try to keep their personalities as close as possible with my own spin on it. Reviews would be very much appreciated! I can go back and edit chapters that haven't been published yet, so if you see something wrong feel free to let me know, and if the next chapter hasn't been published here, I can go back and make changes! If they're simple grammar/spelling issues, I'll make sure those are taken care of as well if I've missed something!**

 **Thanks guys!**

Dib woke up like he did every morning—exhausted. He groaned and rolled over to stare at his alarm clock, its red flashing numbers blinding him in the dark of his bedroom. Reaching out, he tapped the top of the clock to hit the snooze button, rolling over to lay on his back and stare at the ceiling through the darkness.

He was 21. He was still living with his dad and Gaz, but he was in college now. Money wasn't a problem, what with his dad being _Professor Membrane_ and all, so he decided to stay living at home until he was done his degree: a double major in biochemistry and physics, as suggested by—you guessed it—his father. He rolled his eyes and sat up, flicking on the lamp.

His walls were bare, now, but still deep blue. His desk and PC sat in the corner, where it's always been. The floor was mostly clean, save for some dirty clothes in piles near his closet. He stood up and went to said closet to find something to wear, tugging into his clothes. He wore mostly the same outfits he did when he was younger, except with more buckles and zippers. A darker take on his childish paranormal-investigator wardrobe. His scythe had grown out, and an array of piercings littered his ears, plus one in his tongue. He also had a few tattoos, mostly on his upper arms, shoulders, and back. He glanced at himself in the mirror—he looked worn down.

Once that was done, he grabbed his bookbag, keys, phone, and wallet, and headed downstairs.

Gaz was sitting at the kitchen table, and his dad had already left for work. His sister barely acknowledged his presence, giving only a grunt, sipping a cup of juice and playing her Game Slave. Dib just shook his head, grabbing a couple granola bars from the cupboard and an apple from the fridge, and heading out.

"Seeya, Gaz."

"Humph."

Dib locked the door behind himself and got in his car—a deep blue two-door sedan. Nothing too expensive or flashy, but his dad decided he needed one to get to and from college, and he wasn't going to complain about it. It had actually been one of the few pleasant surprises he got from his father, on his 18th birthday. He started "her" engine, backed up out of the driveway, and took a left toward campus.

And just like every morning, he passed Zim's house. He slowed down to a snail's pace (not like there was any other traffic, anyway), just to see if anything had changed. It hadn't.

Zim had been gone for close to five years now. One day, near the end of high school, he just disappeared. Took everything with him, save for the empty shell of his base. The gnomes and walls had become overgrown. He didn't bother locking the door, so for weeks after Zim had left, Dib let himself inside and explored. All of the computers had been shut down, and any Irken-related memorabilia was gone. It drove him crazy for a while—even granted him a stay in the madhouse for a few months. Eventually, he just gave up. He decided to feign ignorance over all the paranormal, just so he could get out of that place and continue on what could loosely be called his life. He barely made it back in time to finish his high school exams. He would have failed his senior year had he not aced all of the tests.

Releasing a gentle sigh, Dib sped up again and continued on his way to class. Today he had quantum mechanics and vertebrate physiology, then a lunch break, and finally advanced inorganic chemistry. His labs were tomorrow.

Once he arrived on campus and found a place to park, always in the back of the parking lot where there was tons of room (and furthest away from the school), he got out of the car with his bag, leaned against the door, and pulled out his phone and a cigarette. Once lit, he dialed a number and waited.

"Tea? Hey. Is Keo with you? Yeah, I just got here. You guys on campus yet? Cool, I'll meet you guys outside Teller Hall."

Dib hung up the phone, slipping it into his pocket and taking a drag from his cigarette. He started smoking after he had been released from the madhouse. Snorting, he began the trek to campus, though he never particularly minded the walk.

He had met Tea and Keo during his first year. They didn't have any classes together—they were all in different programs—but when they met in the cafeteria on the first day of classes, they hit it off. Well, more like they burst into his bubble and forced their way into his life. A smile tugged at the corner of his lip. He was thankful for the two of them. He probably wouldn't be around if it weren't for getting far enough out of The City to make real friends. People that weren't crazy.

Well.

They _were_ crazy. But they were the kind of crazy Dib came to love, and trust. With everything. He even told them about Zim. And, oddly enough, they believed him.

"Dib!" A cheerful, high-pitched voice squeaked and bounded around the corner, a wide grin spread across his face, followed by another young man.

"Hey, Tea," Dib laughed, glancing at Tea up and down.

He was an odd one. Today he was wearing a pair of deep-blue ripped jeans, a pair of baby-blue skate shoes, a white muscle shirt, and an indigo leather coat. His hair was surprisingly long, blond, and shaggy, tied up in an awkward-looking bun, and he had on lots of golden bracelets. He blinked his seafoam-green eyes at Dib cheerfully.

Behind Tea was Keo, who grinned upon seeing Dib. "Heya, Dibbie!" Keo was only a few inches taller than Tea, wearing a comfortable pear of grey sneakers, plain blue jeans, a black t-shirt under a white hoodie, and a thin grey coat. He was also slightly less pale, with deep hazel eyes.

((Obligatory A.N.: If the owner of the character, Keo, happens to see this, I am so sorry but of course I don't have any references to Keo's appearance, and no memory of it. So, sorry if I butchered it. All I have is a few scraps from an old RP on Subeta, but Keo's appearance is never stated in the bits I have. So, I am **so** sorry if I butchered him, I tried to keep him as close to personality as possible.))

"Guys, hey!" Dib replied in as cheerful a manner as he could muster, taking another drag from his cigarette before putting it out on the ground under his toe.

"So Dib, there's a show tomorrow, wanted to know if you'd like to come with us?" Tea asked, bouncing up and down off his toes and flat feet, a huge grin on his face.

"Yeah. It's supposed to be really good!" Keo said, stretching tall. "Weeee….already bought tickets for the three of us!" he exclaimed, pulling the tickets out from nowhere and passing them to Dib, who laughed.

"Sure guys," he said, taking his ticket and placing it in his wallet before continuing, "Sounds like it'll be fun. You're lucky I have a late class on Friday!" Of course, that didn't actually matter. He probably would have gone anyway, or they would drag him along with no say in the matter.

"Yay~!" Tea squealed, bouncing up and pulling Dib into a hug, his face smushing into the boy's blond bun.

"Yeah, yeah, get offa' me," Dib mumbled, brushing Tea off but grinning slightly. "Alright guys, I've got to go to class. I'll see you at lunch, okay?" He said, adjusting his backpack and waving to his friends.

"Later!" Keo called after him, waving enthusiastically while Tea continued to squeal.

Just another day, living the college life. Dib rolled his eyes with a smile, heading into the building to go to class.


	2. Chapter 2: The Return

**Here's chapter two! Thanks for reading. Some of the chapters are quite short-sorry about that! Hopefully that's alright, but it helps me to write a little more than focusing on drawing a chapter out longer than it needs to be.**

 **Again, I do not own Invader Zim or its characters! Jhonen Vasquez is the creator of these fabulous beasts. I do however own the OC's.**

 **Thanks Guys!**

"For the love of—GIR!" A voice shouted loudly as their ship plummeted toward Earth.

"I like waffles~!" an electronic voice cooed as he bounced around the ship, crashing into panels with a large bang.

Zim growled, steadying himself and glancing back at the two Irkens behind him. "Zek, Nui…Zim recommends you prepare for crash-landing," he growled, strapping himself into his seat and attempting to steady the ship, but it was all in vain.

Zek and Nui didn't reply, knowing their Tallest's comment was mostly sarcastic. They glanced at each other anxiously, but otherwise helped in attempting to steady the ship before they did too much damage, to both their ship and their landing site.

Which, of course, was Zim's back yard.

The Irkens managed to steady the ship just enough not to go tumbling into nearby houses or Zim's base, although they did create a sufficient crater in the yard and damaged their ship. While being thrown all about the control-room.

"Uuugh…" Zim groaned, picking himself up off the floor, which was actually the wall, standing up and glancing behind himself. "Are Zek and Nui alright?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm alright," Zek muttered, pulling himself up as well. Nui just nodded, shaking the dizziness out of his head and glancing at GIR, who sat up abruptly and began squealing cheerfully.

"GIR!" Zim shouted, and the robot's eyes went red.

"YES, MASTER."

"Cut it out," Zim said simply, before turning his attention to his comrades. "Now, we will begin our mission of Impending Doom 3 tomorrow. For now, we must reconnect the computer systems."

"Why did you disconnect them if you knew you were coming back?" Nui asked, standing to his full height, a couple inches shorter than Zim. He was an incredibly strange Irken, considering the fact that his skin was white and his eyes a bright orange-amber. His antenna had a slight wave to them, but like Zim, was wearing the classic Invader uniform.

"SILENCE!" Zim shouted exaggeratedly, before he turned and pushed the door above him open, reaching up and climbing out before he continued, "Zim could not risk being any information getting out upon my disappearance. I also could not allow any huumans to learn any of our technology or language."

"That makes sense," Zek muttered as he hauled himself out as well, coming to an even middle-ground between the height of Zim and Nui. His eyes were a glistening purple, not as uncommon as Nui's amber, also wearing the Invader uniform. His antennae were long and straight, and rather than the red circles on his Pak, his were purple. He also had a silver chain around his neck, hanging with the Irken emblem.

Nui was out next, brushing himself off as he followed the other two into the back entrance of Zim's base. This door brought them into the elevator, which promptly dropped them down into the lab. Zim stepped out and took a look around, feeling slightly nostalgic. He didn't, however, let the others see this, and simply walked into the room to begin reconnecting the computers.

Zek and Nui knew immediately what to do, and set about helping Zim to make sure everything was in working order. Including the decrepit laser-eyed gnomes in the front yard.

It took them quite a few hours to get everything finished. It was almost dawn. Zim groaned and stood up, stretching out his legs, hands on his hips, stretching tall until he cracked his back.

"Computer! Bring up the camera on the front lawn," Zim ordered, Zek and Nui standing nearby to watch as the screens burst into life, and the largest in the centre showed a perfectly clear picture of the front, excluding a section of vine that was limiting the view. "Hm. Zim will have to do something about that. No matter! Zek, go out and make sure the voot cruiser is fixed and hidden. Nui, go clean the vines off the gnomes and cameras."

"Yes Zim!" They said in unison, eyeing each other awkwardly. They turned to leave immediately before Zim coughed.

"And, thank you. Zim appreciates the help," Zim muttered, slightly uncomfortable. It wasn't very often that he thanked people, but since his disaster with Impending Doom 2, Zek and Nui, and a very limited few others, were always at his side willing to help.

Especially when he learned of his fake "mission".

"Any time, Zim," Zek said and Nui nodded silently, bringing Zim out of his trance. The two disappeared into the elevator, and Zim listened to them as they went, able to hear them until they were above ground-level.

Zim slinked down into his computer chair, running his fingertips gently over the familiar keys. He looked back up at the screen. The sun was coming up, so Zek and Nui better make it fast and come back inside to be fitted with disguises. Nui would not be so difficult, for he could be played off as an albino, but just like with himself, Zek would be more difficult to disguise. Luckily, his disguise machine could be easily upgraded.

He, however, would return to a very familiar look. One he remembered Dib becoming very fond of…

"eeeeeeeeee~" a squeal, first quiet to suddenly audible, made its way down the elevator and into the lab. Gir popped out, bouncing a few times on his head before he ran over to Zim. "Master! Can I watch the Angry Monkey Show?" He asked excitedly.

Zim rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, GIR can watch the horrible teevee," he grumbled, pulling a remote out of one of the drawers and passing it to the SIR unit. "Now, leave the Almighty ZIM!" he snapped, and GIR cheerfully took the remote and bounded upstairs to watch TV.

Zim leaned back and watched the screen. Nui had removed the vines while Zim was distracted with Gir, and piled them up in the corner of the yard. He nodded once to the camera, then returned inside. Grinning, Zim ordered, "Switch to Camera Two!" The computer brought up the camera in the back yard. Zek had managed to get back inside the voot cruiser and maneuver it into the corner of the yard, near the fence and the next-door building. Zek turned on the cloaking mechanism in the voot cruiser, and it immediately disappeared. Once finished, Zek returned inside as well.

Zim pressed a button on the panel—one that would activate the speaker system throughout the house, and spoke, "Zek and Nui, Zim appreciates the help. Zim will be in the lab if you need him. Otherwise, Zim has some important matters to attend to." He released the speaker button. If he spoke loudly enough, he was sure the other Irkens could hear him fine. However, considering the amount of yelling he had been doing lately, he didn't quite feel like it.

Instead, he tilted his chair back, kicked his feet up onto the panel, and watched the screen. "Computer, camera one," he ordered, and the front yard came back up.

"Now," he murmured, "Zim waits."


	3. Chapter 3: Memories

**Here's chapter three! Thanks for the views and to the two who've followed already! I really appreciate it.**

 **Again, I do not own Invader Zim or its characters. I do however own the OCs.**

 **Thanks guys!**

It was Thursday. Dib glanced at his alarm clock through the darkness, just like every morning. He'd already hit snooze, and the red numbers stopped flashing at him. 6:01 AM. Heaving a sigh, he sat up and took a quick glance about his room—a habit he still couldn't shake. Just to make sure everything was the same. Nodding to himself, he tossed off the blankets, got dressed, and went downstairs.

Gaz was awake again, playing her game slave still. As usual, their dad was at work.

"Why are you even up this early?" Dib asked, rummaging through the cupboards for something to eat. His labs were a bit later, so he could take time to have a bowl of cereal.

"I work at seven," Gaz replied simply. She didn't have any desire to drive to work at the videogame store, otherwise he was sure their dad would have gotten her a car as well. She usually walked, or took the bus. Dib shrugged at her answer, sitting down across the table with his bowl of cereal and munching away, pulling out his phone.

Tea had messaged him.

 **dib! u pumped or what?! -1:58 AM**

Dib replied,

 _Sure am. Meet me after my lab at my car, tell Keo. We'll head over right away. -6:12 AM_

With a few seconds, his phone released a small chirp to signify a received text message.

 **yay! ok. ill let keo know. -6:13 AM**

For some reason, it always bothered Dib the way Tea texted, what with the no capitals and haphazard punctuation, but nothing he could say would have changed Tea's ways—it was just part of who he was. Instead he simply put away his phone, ate his cereal quickly, and put the bowl in the sink.

"I won't be home until late tonight, tell Dad I'm going out, okay?" Dib called to his sister as he yanked his boots on, over his tight black jeans.

"Humph," Gaz grunted in reply, waving him off absently as she continued her game.

Dib left, heading to his car and starting it, and heading down the road. The sun was still rising, giving a pleasant orange light to the surrounding area. He smiled, holding the wheel with ease. Driving was so much easier than piloting a ship.

Just like every morning, Dib slowed down upon passing Zim's base, but this time, stopped just next to the path, staring in awe.

The vines had been removed, and the gnomes repositioned. They didn't move upon the vehicles presence, but it still made Dib uncomfortable. There was a large waste-bin just next to the fence, filled with the torn-down vines.

A sudden, small bang alarmed Dib out of his daze. He looked at the hood of his car, a small squirrel holding an acorn turned to look at him. It must have jumped onto his car. Groaning, he started his vehicle. It seemed to work to scare the creature away.

Despite the uneasy feeling in Dib's stomach, he drove off. The city must have been cleaning up. Or, someone probably bought the house. Something. He reached into the centre console and pulled out a cigarette from its pack, using the vehicle's lighter to light it.

He took a long puff off the cigarette, releasing the smoke into the air above his head, and cracked the window. His hands were shaking against the steering wheel, his heart beating about a thousand miles a minute.

"Strange…" he muttered, deciding to crank the stereo as he smoked and drove to school. He took another drag, not sure if the shiver was from the cool wind coming through the window or the nausea and discomfort.

It wasn't long before he was pulling onto campus, lighting another smoke, and tilting the seat in his car back after turning it off. He stared for a while at the ceiling, replaying their last moments in his head.

 _"_ _What the hell is wrong with you lately?"_

 _"_ _Nothing is wrong, DIB, now leave Zim be."_

 _"_ _We're friends now—sort of. You can talk to me. What is it?"_

 _"_ _The ALMIGHTY ZIM does not need to explain ANYTHING to the DIB-BEAST!"_

Zim disappeared the next day. Didn't show up for school. After a week, Dib began going to his house. Another week later he had broken in. He was caught, of course; the police found the front door kicked in. Everything had been taken away, and Dib was taken into custody while standing in the middle of Zim's lab, staring at the blank computer screen.

He went…maybe just a little loopy after that. But everyone else seemed to have forgotten him. It was like Zim never existed, except for in his memory.

Rolling his eyes with an uncomfortable groan, attempting to shake the feeling off, Dib flicked the cigarette out the window of his car, rolling it up before he hopped out and made his way to his labs.

He finished his biochemistry lab quickly—despite the fact that the rest of the room worked in groups, the professor had decided that since Dib was the best in the class, giving him to any one group would give them an "unfair advantage". _"Yeah. Sure,"_ Dib thought as he left class, passing in the write-up to go with the labwork. Not that he minded working alone at all—in fact, he was quite used to it.

His next lab was a computer science lab—an elective. He found it rather boring, really. He had taught himself at a young age to hack into mainframes and other computer systems, so the coding that he was learning felt pretty useless to him. He'd known more than half of it already. Again, he burned through the assignment for the day and asked to leave when his professor came to check his progress.

"Yeah, sure Dib. Remember, your final project is due in two weeks," the professor said, offering Dib a cheerful smile.

Dib only nodded in response, shrugging his bag over his shoulder. He left the room and pulled out his cell phone.

 _Tea, get Keo and meet me at my car when you both are done class. I'll be at my car soon. Just finished the labs. -2:04 PM_

 **ok! ill be on my way shortly. keo is just finishing his world issues class! :) -2:05 PM**

 _Lol. Okay. See you soon. -2:05 PM_

 **yeah! ;) -2:06 PM**

Dib rolled his eyes, pocketing his phone and making his way down the stairs.

It was strange, coming to college. Not that the classes were strange—but for once in his life, he could walk around without recognizing every face he saw. Every now and then he'd run into a classmate on campus, but even then, the hello's were polite and in no way had anything to do with his "big head" or the paranormal or how he was crazy.

That followed him into high school, along with Zim. The two continued their antics until elementary was over. But then it sort of tapered off. They still yelled at each other, and tried to foil each other's plans when one of them had a new idea. But mostly they hung out. Talked over lunch. Watched TV.

Dib thought it had become a friendship. Until he disappeared.

It startled him when he realized he was half-way through the parking lot. He already saw Tea and Keo waving at him, Tea bouncing into the air and squeaking with the excitement of a child. It pulled a smile along Dib's lips.

"Hey guys, we ready for this show, or what?" Dib asked, feigning a grin. What he saw this morning was still unnerving him, but hopefully the show tonight would keep his mind off of it.

"You bet!" Tea squealed, twirling a loose string of blond hair around his finger.

Keo grinned cheerfully. "Yeah, I am—hey, you alright?" he asked, startling Dib. Dammit. The only downside to having people that _actually_ cared about you.

"W-what? Yeah. I'm fine," Dib said sheepishly, running a hand uncomfortably through his hair.

Tea immediately caught on, dropping flat to his feet and frowning. "No, Keo's right. Something's definitely up. What is it?"

Dib sighed and pulled out his smokes, leaning against the hood of his car. "Well," he said softly, not sure if he wanted to speak or not. They were his friends… "I passed Zim's house, like I do every morning. And it was all cleaned up."

Tea looked at Dib in confusion. "Oh? That's super strange, do you think it could've been the city?"

"I don't know," Dib replied with a shrug, taking a drag off his smoke. "I mean, after almost five years you'd think they could've sold the place by now. I mean, not that it's all that nice inside but it is roomy," he chuckled.

Keo grinned. "Yeah. I can only imagine. I would've loved to see it. But anyway," he said, leaning against the door next to Dib, but avoiding his cigarette, "That still must be tough. Watching things change like that, right before your eyes. It's like, you had something, right? Something to remember him by. Which, if they're cleaning it up to sell it—it probably won't be the same anymore."

"Yeah," Dib sighed, glancing at his friends.

"Oh…" Tea mumbled, "This is kind of sad. I'm sorry, Dib," he muttered, leaning against Dib's shoulder and looking up at Dib with sad eyes.

Dib shook his head. "It's okay, guys. Really. It just…they leave it for so long and then decide to do something with the place now? It's weird."

"Yeah… I don't know, I wouldn't put too much thought into it until you know what's going on with it. Hey, let's go to the mall or something, grab something to eat, and then head to the show, okay?" Keo asked, and Dib smiled. He knew his friend was trying to help get his mind off the situation.

"Yeah, let's go."

"We can stay at my apartment tonight!" Tea offered, his grin and cheerful demeanor returning.

Dib nodded. "Sure, but someone else is gonna have to drive home."

Keo snickered. "Yeah, with what's going on right now, I give you permission to drink to your heart's content. I'll drive." Keo didn't own his own vehicle, but he did know how to drive. On the rare occasions when Dib needed someone to drive it for him—usually because he was intoxicated in some manner—Keo took the wheel.


	4. Chapter 4: Connect

**Here's chapter 4 guys! Holy smokes. Rated M for future chapters-swearing, sexual content, adult content.**

 **I do not own Invader Zim or the characters. I do however own the sidecharacters.**

 **If you like, check out my tumblr! .com. I have other work over there, some IZ reblogs, and I might be posting some sketches soon!**

Zim watched the screen carefully, his grin fading until it was nonexistent. It was almost 7, and Dib still hadn't walked by. He considered, briefly, getting up and getting himself some snacks, before he saw a vehicle slow down in front of the base. His eyes narrowed.

Dropping his feet to the floor, the chair coming down with a small crash, he pulled himself closer and stared. He couldn't tell who was in the car.

"Computer! Zoom in on the front seat."

The computer did just that, zooming in until Dib's face was visible. He was staring at the house, looking bewildered and slightly nauseated.

"What on Irk—" Zim began, narrowing his red eyes. "The Dib-beast is—pierced? And what on Irk happened to his glasses?!" he shouted to himself, before shaking his head. Dib had exchanged his rounded glasses for ones that were thick-rimmed, square. His lip was pierced.

Quickly, Zim typed some commands into his computer, and waited. Out of nowhere, a squirrel dropped onto the hood of the car, scaring Dib. Zim snickered, watching as Dib got frustrated with himself and started the vehicle. The squirrel's job was complete, so it hopped off the car as it drove off.

Once the vehicle was out of sight, the squirrel promptly exploded.

Grinning, Zim stood up. "Computer! Give Zim the coordinates of Dib's location," he ordered, rummaging around his desk until her found his communicator, which he strapped to his wrist. The computer brought up the coordinates, which Zim promptly added to his communicator. A small map appeared on the screen, showing a red dot at Dib's vehicle's location. It wasn't exact, especially if Dib decided to walk somewhere, but it would have to do.

Zim pressed the speaker button on the panel. "Zek. Nui. Report to the lab immediately." He released the button, walking over to the centre of the lab, one of his spider-legs coming out of his pak to drop a device into his hand. Zim dropped it on the floor, tapping it with his foot. Taking a quick step back, the machine popped up to full-size.

"This will work much more nicely than what Zim the first time around had," he muttered, glancing up when he noticed the elevator doors opening. "Ah, yes. Come, Zim has located the Dib. We must disguise ourselves if we are not to be seen."

Zek and Nui looked at each other, nodded, and stepped forward. "I always hated those things," Nui muttered, and Zek nodded.

"You and me both."

"SILENCE! Zim will begin," Zim shouted, before stepping into the machine. It whirred into action, and when Zim came out, he looked much different. He was wearing a pair of black leather pants, knee-high boots with white buckles, and a long, red, zippered hoodie with a spider on it, topped with a black leather vest. His wig and contacts were both improved, looking much more natural.

Although his skin was still green. He trusted, much like last time, the pathetic huumans would not notice.

"Nui! You are next. Get in!" Zim ordered, taking a few steps back to let Nui step into the disguise-machine. After that, Zek had his turn.

When they came out, Nui was placed in a short, choppy brown wig with brown contacts, and was wearing a white and grey flannel shirt, a white fake-leather coat and white-wash jeans, while Zek had on a black, slightly curly wig, indigo-blue contacts, and was wearing a casual blackish-blue blazer with a high collar, a thick blue sweater, and a pair of dark blue jeans, rolled up once at the bottom. The three of them were all wearing black leather gloves with two solid, extra fingers on the side.

"Huh," Nui muttered, looking down at himself, flexing his hands. The fake fingers moved pretty well with his own, curling into a fist when his own did, but otherwise they were mostly useless. "By Irk, I'm kind of impressed, Zim. Now if only you could do something about our skin."

"I actually think I like this Earth style of clothing," Zek added with a nod.

Zim rolled his eyes. "Of course you are impressed!" he shouted, then added, "Huumans are soopid, they will not notice anything is amiss."

Zek shrugged. "If you say so."

With a huff, Zim turned harshly on his heel and made his way to the elevator, followed by the other two irkens.

"So..." Nui began, silencing himself when Zim glanced at him. Weakly, he continued, "what is it exactly that we're looking for?"

Zim looked ahead as the elevator doors closed and sprang into action, pushing them toward the top floor. His face was expressionless, holding his arms crossed on his chest. "Dib," he said simply.

His comrades looked at each other uncomfortably, but otherwise stayed silent. Zim clearly wasn't in the mood to talk about it.

To be honest, Zim wasn't sure if finding Dib would be the right decision. It had been so long. He wasn't sure if Dib would forgive him for leaving.

The elevator door slid open and Zim stepped out, followed by the others.

"Are we taking the voot cruiser my Tall—uh. Zim?" Zek asked as they stepped outside, standing on the gnome-surrounded path.

"Hrm. Too conspicuous. We will walk. GIR!" Zim shouted, and the SIR unit bounded out from the livingroom couch cheerfully.

"Yes, Master!"

"Disguise yourself," Zim ordered, arms still crossed. He watched as GIR's stealth-mode enabled, portraying him, instead of as a green talking-robot-dog, as a Doberman Pinscher. It growled slightly, and Zim pulled a leash and collar out of his pak, attaching it to the neck of the SIR.

Nodding, mostly to himself, he glanced down at the communicator to watch the blinking red dot. He was startlingly far away—but Zim and his comrades had walked further distances before. Where on _Irk_ was he? He started down the path, followed quickly by the others, turned the corner, and made his way toward the college.

It took them a while to arrive. Zim made his way to the growing-closer red dot, ignoring the glances he, Zek, and Nui had been getting by nosy college students. Eventually, he was standing near the back end of the parking lot, staring ahead.

There was Dib.

With two other humans, having an actual conversation. Laughing. Comforting? _"The Dib never had friends before…"_ Zim thought, frowning.

"Zim? Is that him? Are we—" Nui began, but was interrupted.

"Silence," Zim murmured quietly. The Dib looked…different. Strange. They watched in silence while Dib opened the front door of his car, and his friends walked around to hop in on the other side. Glancing over his shoulder, Dib stopped.

Their eyes connected.

 _"…_ _Zim?"_


	5. Chapter 5: Reunion

**Wow, thanks for the reviews and favs guys. I really appreciate it! Here's chapter 5. To my reviewers, thank you! And as for the OCs, I understand that they're a bit out of place. It's very difficult to insert OCs into universes that already exist and are established. I've already gotten up to chapter 8 with them, but seeing as how they aren't** ** _super_** **important or anything, I can have them fazed out after that, no big deal at all. However, keep reviewing and let me know what you guys think after a few more chapters!**

 **Again, I do not own Invader Zim. Thanks for reading!**

The two had been staring at each other for about a minute and a half before the other four began to get uncomfortable.

"Dib, is that…?" Tea asked quietly, tugging on Dib's sleeve. Wordless, Dib nodded.

"Oh my…" Keo murmured, leaning over the hood of the car to stare back and forth between the two of them.

Slowly, Zim straightened up to full height, walking in his very Zim-like manner toward Dib: a slight march, feet stomping. When he was about three feet away, he stopped—still a full head shorter than Dib's 6'3; considering Zim's overall small stature, it brought him down to about 5'7.

"Dib-beast," Zim began, staring up at Dib with hard eyes.

Dib didn't reply for another long moment, staring down at Zim. His outfit was pretty similar to what he wore in high school. At some point, Zim had to start changing what he wore to fit in better, especially when he began to grow taller.

"…what the fuck, Zim?" Dib began, eyes narrowing and hands balling into fists. "What, the actual fuck? Are you fucking kidding me right now? It was you, this morning, wasn't it?"

"Zim is not—what?" It took Zim a second to understand what it was Dib was getting at. "Oh, yes. When you—yes. That was indeed Zim."

"What the fuck, seriously? What are you doing here? Now? Today? After—five fucking years, Zim?" Dib's shouting trailed off to a whisper, taking a step back until he was leaning uncomfortably against his car, almost pressing his back into the driver's-side window. Without thinking, Dib was pulling out his cigarettes and lighting one, taking a long puff as he waited uneasily for Zim's response. Tea and Keo cast knowing glances at one another, scurrying off to a nearby bench to give the two their space.

Zek and Nui did the same, sitting on the bench next to Keo and Tea's, and they all stared at each other awkwardly.

"…Zim expected such a reaction from the Dib. He supposes he does owe the Dib an explanation," he muttered.

"You fucking think so?" Dib replied sarcastically.

Zim stuck his tongue out slightly, making a small hiss at the taste of the smoke wafting in the air. "Zim did not have time to say goodbye. Zim was ordered to return to Irk. If he did not, other Invaders would be sent to Earth to destroy it. Zim would not allow anyone other than the ALMIGHTY ZIM to destroy this filthy planet.

"Zim was also told that everything—had been a lie." Zim rambled, standing straight with his fingers laced together behind his back.

Dib didn't reply for a moment, before asking, "What had been a lie?"

"…Zim's mission," Zim said, glancing down at the ground before looking back at Zim. "A few months before I left. I was sent into space by the late Tallests, Pur and Red. I was a _defective_ —they never intended on me actually finding a planet to conquer," he said, an angry snarl bubbling up from his chest, which puffed out as he stood tall. "And so, when they finally ordered me to return, I made myself Tallest." The Irken grinned widely.

A shiver ran up Dib's spine. He had never seen Zim like this before—he had a terrifying aura around him. He didn't know what to say, so he waited and let Zim continue.

"Zim had…much to attend to before he could come back to Earth," he said, slipping back into third person, "and no way to contact the Dib. Zim tried to contact Dib through his old radio system, and Tak's ship, but neither worked."

Dib shook his head. "I threw out all of my paranormal equipment."

"You—What? Why?"

"The one constant in my life disappeared, Zim. The one thing, the one person I could actually trust disappeared. Not only did they disappear, but nobody even remembered your name, or the fact that you went to my school. Everyone except Gaz, anyway. So, I got rid of all my paranormal garbage. I gave it up," Dib shrugged, looking away to the forest that edged the parking lot, taking another drag off his cigarette.

Zim's lips thinned into a frown. "Foolish," Zim grumbled, "Zim would have thought the Dib would have been smarter. Zim had to clear his existence on Earth. Wipe the huuman's memories in case something went wrong, or he could not come back."

Dib rolled his eyes, flicking his smoke onto the concrete parking lot a few meters away. Ashes sparked as it bounced along the ground, cherry still burning. "Zim—I can't do this right now. I have plans," he grunted, walking to the front of his car and tugging off the chip left by the squirrel. "We're going out." He almost waited for Zim to reply as he opened the front door of his car, then he sighed and turned back to Zim. Something wouldn't let him leave well enough alone. "I'll come over tomorrow, I guess."

Tea shook his head. "Dib, if you can't come to the show we'll understand," he squeaked, bouncing uncomfortably back and forth on his heels. "If you wanted to work things out with Zim, we can go and meet up with you after class tomorrow."

Dib shook his head. "Guys—no. It's fine," he began, but was interrupted by Keo.

"Maybe you should work this out, Dib. I think it'd be good for you," Keo said with a slight smile, "we can just take the bus back to town."

Dib groaned. He glanced at Zim, who was staring at him with a hard, mostly blank stare, hands together behind his back, chest still puffed up and head tilted slightly up. A look of expectation—and possibly, in Zim's strange way, hope. Dib rolled his eyes and hopped into the front seat. "Fine," he growled.

Zek and Nui glanced at each other, then at Dib and Zim, then at the other two humans. They both looked extremely uncomfortable.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow, and I'll text you later tonight," Dib muttered, waving to Tea and Keo.

"Okay, good luck!" Keo said, waving at Dib and glancing anxiously to Tea. The two walked off toward the bus stop, muttering to each other that they hoped everything would be okay, until they were out of Dib's earshot.

Dib slammed the driver's side door and rolled down the window. "Well, get in I guess. We'll go back to your place now and finish this conversation."

Zim grinned, marching around the vehicle and getting into the passenger side. He had been in a human vehicle a couple of times before, but it was still unusual to him. He didn't know that Dib had gotten one, either. It would be interesting to see if he piloted it with the expertise Dib showed at piloting a ship.

"You guys too," Dib grunted, looking at their disguises up and down. He saw through them immediately—he always could. He started the ignition as the other two hopped in, and was about to start driving until he looked at them. "Seatbelts. I'm not getting a ticket."

Zim grunted and tugged the seatbelt around himself, and so did the others. Dib switched into first gear, and began out of the parking lot.

"So, who are your two lackeys?" Dib asked, eyes on the road, turning left out of the parking lot.

"Ah," Zim nodded, pointing to the back seat at Zek. "This is Zek," his gesture moved to the other, "and Nui. They are close friends of Zim. He has known them for a very long time."

"Hi," "Pleasure to meet you," Zek and Nui said at almost the same time.

Dib simply nodded, staying silent the rest of the drive. Zim watched Dib with interest. Although driving a car seemed much easier than piloting a ship, Dib still drove quite well—eyes on his surroundings, focused on the task at hand, shifting smoothly and keeping a constant speed. Zim turned his head to face forward, smirking.


	6. Chapter 6: Conflict

**A/N: Hey guys! Guess who's not dead? Me! Also, this story. So, I mentioned previously that the OCs aren't sticking around, however, they are pretty heavy in the next few chapters and since they're used as kind of... methods for explanation, I couldn't really edit them out of chapters 6 and 7. However, chapters 8 and 9 do start to phase them out.**

 **Sorry if the story feels pretty slow-going, I imagine it's going to be pretty lengthy by the time it's finished. Since I'm bulk-uploading chapters 6, 7, and 8, my A/N's will be pretty small and I won't have many changes. I'm currently working my way through chapter 9 onward.**

 **It's been so long since I've looked at this story. I realize looking back that this chunk of chapters doesn't have a lot of drama, which I'm trying to work in and improve upon for chapters 9+. I don't want people to be atrociously bored. We'll also start to see the beginnings of fluff appearing soon! Hopefully that's not considered a spoiler.**

 **Anyway, thank you to everyone who's reviewed or followed the story, and major apologies for letting it fall to the wayside as I finished my undergrad and masters. Just didn't have the time. But still, thank you! And enjoy.**

 **Obligatory: I don't own Invader Zim or its characters. I do, however, own the OCs. ZADR expected in future chapters.**

Dib was sitting on Zim's couch, arms crossed. He stared at GIR, who had just changed back into his SIR unit form, while he made a very large mess in the kitchen. He rolled his eyes. Zim stood across from Dib in front of the TV, while the other two tried to settle down the SIR unit.

"So. Tell me what happened," Dib said, turning his gaze to Zim.

Zim nodded, sliding over to sit next to Dib. "A few years before Zim left, he learned that his whole mission had been a lie. That is when we began to become—friends," he shifted uncomfortably, "but after a few years, there was conflict on Irk. An uprising, as it were. Zim was ordered to return by the Tallests. He had been gone too long, had been wasting their time, and with the conflicts from the Resisty on top of those occurring on Irk, he knew he must leave. So I followed their orders and returned to Irk.

Once I got there, I realized they didn't call me back to help with the resistances. I was there to be executed. What they didn't know, however, was that I had fixed my pak and had years of failure and and self-hatred and bottled rage toward the Tallests, and I knew it was time to put an end to this. An end to the Resisty, an end to Tallests Red and Pur—their lies. Their schemes. Their failures as Tallests, as leaders." Zim sat up straight, staring at Dib with hard eyes. "I killed them and took their place as tallest of Irk. Thankfully, your odd gravity here on Earth and fixing my pak helped in the... height department."

 _'He...killed them?!'_ Dib glanced nervously at Zim, then down to his hands, fidgeting anxiously. Zim even looked intimidating for once. The more serious Zim got, the less often he spoke in third person. He didn't say anything in response, waiting for Zim to finish.

"Once I became tallest, I had much work to do. Cleaning up Irk and preparing for Impending Doom three. Like I said, Zim did try to contact you but was unable. My time on Irk lasted far longer than I had intended, but it was necessary. Once Impending Doom three began, Zim placed Tak in charge while he left to find you, and lay claim to this planet."

Dib stood up. Nope. That was not happening. "So, your plan to destroy Earth is still happening? Despite—everything? Our friendship? Disappearing without a trace and leaving me to the Crazy House for Boys?" He asked, eyes angry and hands in fists.

"No," Zim snapped and stood up to join Dib. "Zim is not destroying Earth. He has grown a fondness for this strange, hostile planet. It's people—not so much," Zim shivered and scowled, "but Zim knows that Dib would not allow Zim to destroy the filthy huumans, and Zim—I—do not desire to fight with you like we did years ago."

"So what are you planning, then?" Dib growled, taking a step away from Zim.

"Nothing, really. Not anymore," Zim shrugged, sitting back down and crossing his arms. "Zim knows he could not get away with doing anything to this planet. Not while the Dib is on it. And now that the Dib has made friends, that would make this much more difficult. I intend to keep this planet for observational purposes only. To study human kind. Use your criminals for experiments," Zim smirked and glanced at Dib. "I do plan on infiltrating the governments. Mind control of some sort," he waved his hand in a nonchalant manner, "But otherwise, we will not interfere with the workings of this planet nor the people on it."

Dib relaxed slightly, lowering himself back onto the couch. "So that's why you're here," he muttered, still somewhat unconvinced, looking at Zim, still disguised, trying to find some clue of deceit in his face. He couldn't find anything. Zim was surprisingly expressionless, especially with those vast red eyes. "And me? What, I'm just a happy consequence?"

Zim rolled his eyes. "Would the Dib quit looking for conflict? By Irk, human, you have always thought everyone was against you. Most of the time, the Dib is right. This is not one of those times. Zim does not see Dib as a consequence of anything. Zim—did not mean to leave you with nothing. But he could not leave anything behind, and if by some chance he did not return from Irk... it was far easier if Dib thought he was gone for good."

Dib nodded slowly, sighing and placing his face in his hands. "It just… you have to understand where I'm coming from here. I don't know if we can just pick up where we left off. You were the one constant in my life that was actually any good. The one person I could rely on, even if it was mostly full of anger and insults and petty fights," he looked away from Zim. "And then you disappeared. You were gone, and I had nothing left. Nothing to fight for or against, and nobody here who gave a shit. It broke me. I'm not the same person anymore."

"Neither is Zim," the Irken replied, eyes narrowed but face calm. "Dib was the constant in Zim's life as well. Even when I found out my time spent on Earth was all a lie, Dib remained. I did not mean to hurt you."

The kitchen had gone silent, and the room filled with an air of unease. Dib glanced over at the two Irkens and the blue-eyed SIR unit, then back at Zim. "This... is too much right now. Can we finish this later?" Dib asked, standing up and turning toward the door.

Zim nodded. "Yes. Zim has work to attend to anyway. Will the Dib—"

"I'll be over tomorrow," Dib muttered, hurrying out the door, slamming it behind him, and hopping into the car. He slammed the car door in frustration—or maybe stress, or confusion, and leaned his head back. He lit another smoke, closing his eyes tightly.

 _'_ _Dammit. All of a sudden, he's back, and what? I'm supposed to just let us pick back up where we were? And what in God's name has he turned into? I always knew Irkens were killers, but...'_ Dib thought to himself. He groaned and turned the key into the ignition, shifted from neutral to first, and zipped off Zim's street toward Tea's house.

xxxxxx

It only took a few minutes before Dib arrived at his friend's apartment. He stayed in the car and pulled out his phone.

 _Tea, I'm outside. This show starts in a couple hours, you two want to go still? -6:04 PM_

Dib only had to wait a couple of minutes for Tea's reply.

 **omg. yes! keo and i will be down asap :) -6:06 PM**

 _Okay. -6:06 PM_

"ASAP" was right. Dib only had to wait another few minutes—one more cigarette later—and his friends were bounding out the door to the car. Keo called shotgun and hurried into the front seat, with a large pout from Tea, who clambered clumsily behind Keo's seat into the back.

"Hey guys," Dib said with a weak smile, flicking the cigarette butt out his window so that smoke wouldn't fill up the car.

"Hey!" Keo said with a grin that faded quickly into concern. "How did it go? We didn't think you'd still be coming out tonight."

"After the discussion we just had, I could really use a drink," Dib half-chuckled and half-scowled, waiting for his friends to buckle up before he turned from the curb to drive to the club that the band was performing at.

Tea leaned forward between the two front seats. "Well—how was it?" He pressed, eyes wide and face interested.

"It was—confusing, more than anything. I don't really know how to feel about the situation, you know? It's been five years. I was actually starting to think I imagined his existence here."

"Yeah, that's got to be pretty tough," Keo said. "But I'm sure it'll work out eventually, in its own way."

Dib smiled weakly. "I hope so."

xxxxxx

It took them ten minutes to arrive at the club downtown. Dib parked the vehicle—thankfully it was free parking after 6 PM. He hopped out, checking his wallet quickly for his ID and looked back at his friends as they climbed out of the car to follow him in. He tugged out the ticket, feeling a little better already. They had a little while to wait before the show, but Dib figured they could have a few drinks and relax before anything started.

The three entered into the club, handing the bouncer their tickets and ID's, hurrying in and grabbing a table near the stage, where the band was beginning to set up.

"I'll go grab us drinks! Dib, Keo, what do you guys want?" Tea asked, bouncing up and down cheerfully.

"Water," Keo said with a grin and a nod.

"Rum and coke," Dib snickered. Keo didn't drink, not usually. Sometimes he'd have a cooler or punch on holidays, but otherwise, he avoided everything. Drinking, smoking, drugs. He was straight-edge, and that was one of Dib's favourite qualities in him.

When Tea returned with the drinks, he sat down next to Keo and took a sip from his brightly coloured martini.

"Are you actually drinking an appletini right now?" Dib asked, grinning as he sipped from his rum and coke.

"Yes. Yes I am," Tea answered, sticking his pinky out goofily, taking another sip in a mock-classy manner.

"You're strange…" Keo said with a snicker before he turned to Dib. "So, tell us more about what happened. Unless you don't want to talk about it, in which case, that's cool! We can forget about it for now!"

Dib shook his head. "It's fine. It's nice having someone to talk to about this," he said, adjusting his glasses and looking over the rims of them at his friends. "Like I said, it was really strange to see him again. After all this time, after he just disappeared without a trace. When he left, I couldn't handle it. I went crazy. We hadn't even finished High School—one day he was his normal self, screaming about being _huuman_ and talking to me about his plans to destroy Earth in front of my locker…"

Tea and Keo exchanged anxious glances, but otherwise stayed silent. Dib saw the look and chuckled.

"At that point, after how long he'd spent here, I didn't believe he was actually going to do it anymore. So a lot of the time we talked about how he was going to do it, and how I was going to ruin his plans. Otherwise, we did our classwork together. He teased me about my big head. I talked to him about how annoyed I was with my father working all the time. We walked home from school together. Then, the next day, he was just gone," Dib finished with a sigh, glancing out to the club floor.

It was still pretty quiet, but every few minutes a small group would enter with their tickets and find a seat, buy drinks. The conversation was still pretty quiet, and so was the music. The lights hadn't been set for the show yet, and the band was still hooking up their equipment.

"So, what really happened when he left?" Keo asked, "Whenever you mentioned it, you always kind of avoided that part," he said, taking a sip of his water.

Dib, instead, took a large gulp of his drink before he continued, "Well. At first, not much. I asked around the following week to see where he had gone, but it was like nobody knew who he was. Nobody remembered him. I started going over to his place and looking around, but—it was empty. The computers in the lab were all shut down and there wasn't anything Irken related left there. It was like the whole thing was a dream. All of a sudden, the only person I could rely on—even if it was just to fight—was gone. And nobody remembered him but me. After a few weeks, my dad must have caught on. The police showed up at Zim's place and found me in the lab, rummaging through drawers and trying to find something. Anything. They took me into custody and I… well," Dib laughed weakly, "you can figure out the rest. I spent a few months in the madhouse, then began to feign ignorance so I would be released. They let me out, I cleared out everything paranormal from my house, went back to school, and finished my high school degree."

Tea shook his head, staring at Dib in childish awe. "That must have been awful for you, Dib. I wish we were there, to give you some support," he muttered.

"Me too," Keo said with a nod. "I mean, Zim probably would have erased our memories too. But, he couldn't have erased our friendship. And we would have believed you, even if we didn't remember it. I'm sure of that."

Dib smiled at his friends. "Aw, hell, guys. What'd I do to deserve people like you?"

Tea squeaked and bounded to Dib's side of the table, pulling him into an extremely uncomfortable and tight hug. "Aw, Dib! You just be you, and we'll just be here loving every part of it!"

"Gak!" Dib yelped when he was pulled in, face smushed against Tea's chest. "Okay, okay. Well, thanks."

"So," Keo said, standing to tug Tea off of their friend, pulling him back down into his seat. "If he isn't going to destroy Earth…what does he plan on doing?"

Dib shook himself off and shrugged. "I guess he's going to use some sort of mind control on the government. I don't have full details, but experiments on criminals I guess. Study Earth, rather than destroy it. Which seems so unlike him," he adjusted his glasses again, which had become crooked from Tea's bear hug.

Keo shuffled in his seat uncomfortable and took a sip of his water. "Well, I guess that's better than the destruction of Earth," he mumbled. Tea finished off his martini in one quick gulp. Dib's was still half full.

"Drinks? I'm getting drinks," Tea squeaked before he bounded off, blond hair flopping behind after him.

Dib sighed. "It's definitely better. I don't know if it's even worth it trying to stop him, you know?" he asked, not looking at Keo and instead staring at his glass, as if the ice were the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen.

"Yeah…Well, tonight let's not worry about it. We're here to have fun, right?" Keo asked with a grin, glancing over at Tea as he bounced up and down at the counter, awaiting their drinks.

"Yeah, that's right," Dib said with a weak smile, leaning back into his seat and waiting for Tea to return.


	7. Chapter 7: Infiltrate

**A/N: Another bulk upload. Please regard the notes at the beginning of Chapter 6.**

 **Obligatory: I do not own Invader Zim or its characters. I do, however, own the OCs. ZADR in future chapters.**

Zim paced back and forth anxiously in the lab, hands locked tight behind his back. Gir bounced himself up and down across the room, squealing loudly and clinging tightly to a small rubber piggy, its eyes bugging out of its head. Zek and Nui were seated at different stations at the oversized computer, facing their Tallest.

"We need a plan to infiltrate the government, beginning with The City," Zim said with a nod, glancing up at his computer. "Computer! Who is the mayor? And who else is in power?"

The computer quickly began a search, bringing up images and webpages of the mayor, Kevin Crass, various large-scale companies, and of course, Professor Membrane. Zim narrowed his eyes at the screen, placing both hands on the control panel and leaning forward. "Hmm…"

"My Tall—" Zek began, but stopped when Zim raised one antennae in annoyance toward him without turning around. "Zim," he corrected, "From these pages here, it seems like the mayor and this Professor Membrane seem to possess the most power in this town. Perhaps we should begin with them, and then let them continue to control the rest of The City. It will be less conspicuous that way."

Zim nodded. "Yess… That seems like the most useful direction," he nodded quickly, stretching and glancing over at Nui who simply nodded in response. "Fine. We will begin with the infiltration tomorrow evening. Go do—whatever it is you two do to entertain yourselves!" he shouted, pointing one finger high in the air as he did so. "Zim is going out."

"Zim," Nui began cautiously, not wanting to offend his leader, who spun on his heels to stare at Nui with his antennae both perked high and eyes narrowed. "I just—wanted to ask about this Dib-human you wanted to see today. You told him everything. Things we didn't even know. Why was it so important you told him about what you're planning?"

Zim frowned visibly. Of course they listened to their earlier conversation. They were basically in the same room after all, and Zim couldn't fault Zek and Nui's curiosity toward the human. It was rare for Irkens to become friendly with anyone of a different species. He heaved a sigh. "Dib was…is…very important. We shall leave it at that for now," he muttered.

Zek and Nui nodded, accepting Zim's response as reasonable, not wanting to press the issue any further than necessary and risk causing negative reactions. Like shouting. Or violence.

"Zim has matters to attend to that do not involve being here. GIR!" Zim shouted, turning to the bouncing robot.

"YES, MASTER." The robot stopped, dropping the piggy on the floor, his eyes turning red and saluting at Zim.

"Stay on your guard. You, Zek, and Nui will guard the base tonight. Otherwise—go watch teevee or something," Zim waved his hand with a roll of his eyes, pressing a button on a device on his wrist—one that looked much like a watch—and his disguise activated. Nodding to himself, he turned on his heel and hopped into the elevator without a goodbye to the others, trusting it to take him where he wanted to go, no orders necessary: the ground floor.

He listened for a moment as Zek and Nui's voices faded to a quiet murmur, discussing the events of the day and other various topics in Irken. He allowed himself a weak smile. He knew the two of them were only looking out for his—and their planet's and race's—best interests. They were good soldiers, and in the past five years he had begun, almost, to think of them as friends. With a strict nod to himself, as if to clear his head, he marched out of the elevator and the front door, and made his way toward Dib's house. He hoped that by now, he would be home. It was just past midnight.

It only took Zim a few minutes to reach Dib's house. He still remembered the route perfectly. He looked up the side wall to Dib's bedroom. The light was on, but Dib's vehicle wasn't in the driveway. With a frown, Zim used the spider-like legs in his Pak to scale the wall and reach the window. Dib was laying on the bed, eyes closed, headphones on. Through the window, a sickly sweet smell reached his tongue and he hissed slightly. He remembered that smell from high school—alcohol. Dib didn't drink then.

Zim tapped gently on the window. When Dib didn't respond, he tapped a little louder until the human's eyes opened. Dib sat up quickly, looked nauseous for a moment, then shook his head and pulled off his headphones, listening again. Zim tapped the window one last time, causing Dib to look over. A frustrated expression crossed his face as he stood and walked over, opening the window and pulling out the screen.

"Zim? What are you doing here?" Dib asked, taking a step back to allow Zim to come in. He glanced at his door. "And be quiet, Gaz and Dad are asleep."

Zim simply nodded to the second question, climbing into the window with ease, his spider legs retracting into his pak. "Zim wanted to continue our discussion," he said finally to the first question, closing the window behind him.

"I'm a little tipsy right now, Zim, I don't think this is a good time," Dib grumbled, opening his desk drawer and rummaging through until he found some aspirin. "But, okay, I guess, if you need to talk about this now," he muttered, sitting on his bed and picking up a bottle of water from the sidetable. He swallowed the aspirin quickly and patted beside him on the bed.

Zim moved to sit next to Dib, but not so close. He didn't want to break any personal space boundaries. "Zim feels as though, perhaps he was not clear on his intentions here."

"No, you really weren't," Dib said with a shrug, "so clarify."

"Zim does not intend on changing much of the way the planet is run. We are, however, going to infiltrate the government, beginning here, and then moving to a much more global scale," Zim began, glancing over at Dib to make sure he was following. He looked groggy, and a little flustered, but otherwise he seemed to be listening. Zim continued, "We are doing this to ensure that humanity does not catch on to Irk's plans for Earth. Considering the highly dangerous nature of the planet—the strange way that there are defense systems built into the planet's own geography—it will be used for study by our scientists. Zim would like to see if there is any way to utilize these tools for Irk's benefit during Impending Doom Three and future missions," Zim paused again, looking Dib up and down, who was rubbing his forehead.

"Is the Dib okay?" He asked cautiously.

"Hm? Yeah, I'm fine. I'm listening—study Earth's defence mechanisms and utilize it," Dib said with a nod and a weak smile to the Irken.

Zim simply nodded. "Yes. On top of that, we will be taking criminals from your prisons—another reason why we must infiltrate the government and those in power, so that these criminals can be taken without suspicion, and without your officials alerting the general population to our existence. Zim would like to discover what it is about humans that makes them so resilient, so powerful, while at the same time being self-destructive and so destructive to its own planet and species. Zim no longer intends to destroy Earth in any way," he finished with a nod, eyeing Dib to make sure that there were no qualms with this plan. If there were… he hated to admit it, and he never would out loud, but he would have to change his plans again.

Dib nodded. "Okay. Then—I suppose I can let you do that. Who knows, maybe infiltrating the government could benefit the planet as well as your species," he suggested, rubbing his temples. "Just, make sure you know the difference between different crimes and different criminals. You know, the difference between people who made a mistake versus someone who knowingly did something bad and illegal on purpose," he suggested, tugging his glasses off and rubbing his eyes.

"Yes, Zim will—is the Dib _sure_ he is alright?" Zim asked, antennae leaning back in concern.

"Just—having a hard time focusing, we drank a lot tonight," Dib laughed softly, turning to look at Zim. He frowned. "So, what about us?"

Zim cocked his head to the side. "What does the Dib mean?" he asked in confusion.

"I mean. We were, kind of friends when you left. Wouldn't you say?"

"…Yes," Zim replied slowly.

"So what are we doing then? Did you… I don't know. Want help with your mission? I don't… think I can put everything behind me right now. But, that might give us somewhere to start." He stood up, walking over to the window and opening it. He rummaged through his pockets until he found his cigarettes, pulling one out and lighting it.

Zim hissed when the scent of the smoke hit his tongue. It burned his insides and made his mouth tingle. "Why does the Dib smoke those infernal things? Zim thought he would have learned from high school that they were disgusting, dangerous creations," he grumbled, briefly flashing back to horrible videos played in class about the dangers of smoking, and the utter horribleness it caused to human organs.

Dib laughed weakly. "I started quite a few new habits while you were gone, Zim," he muttered in response, taking a haul of the cigarette and breathing the smoke out the window. The wind carried most of it off, but a hint of it blew back into the room. He'd have to leave the window open and light some incense to keep the smell out.

"Oh? Aside from the drinking and smoking, then?" Zim asked, crossing his arms with his eyes narrowed. It wasn't his place to tell Dib what to do, but, he couldn't help but feel disappointed in the change in him. He used to be so strong. He never gave in to temptations or addictions, focusing on more important things. Protecting his planet and his family. The paranormal. Science. _'Me.'_

"Uh, yeah. I'd…really rather not talk about it," Dib rubbed the back of his head, glancing over at Zim uneasily, who was seated on his bed.

Zim stood. It looked like it was time to leave. Dib was acting strangely and did not appear to want company. "Fine, if the Dib does not wish to discuss it… Zim will not continue." He slid off the bed and made his way toward the window, stopping when a hand tugged on his sleeve.

"Maybe I'll come by after class tomorrow?"

Zim didn't turn around. He simply nodded, using his spider legs to latch onto the window frame as he climbed out and dropped gently onto the grass. The long metal legs slipped back into his Pak almost sounlessly, and he shoved his hands in his pockets, finally looking back up at the window. Dib was leaning out slightly, cigarette slipped through his first two fingers tightly, watching.

"Get some rest, Dib-beast," Zim said, turning quickly on his heel and walking back toward the base.


	8. Chapter 8: Differences

**A/N: Final bulk upload. Please regard the notes at the beginning of Chapter 6 for further detail.**

 **Obligatory: I do not own Invader Zim or its characters. I do, however, own the OCs. ZADR in future chapters.**

Dib flicked his cigarette out the window after Zim's departure, closing the window and replacing the screen. Zim's words didn't have their usual bite, despite the insult. He groaned, rubbing his head as he made his way to his desk, pulling out a string of incense and placing it in the holder, lighting it. He tugged his coat and jeans off, then his shirt as he got ready for bed, glancing at himself in the mirror.

His upper body was littered in scars, his tattoos only covering a few. He turned away quickly and began rummaging through his desk. Hands grasping what he'd been looking for, he pulled out an unlabeled pill bottle. Popping the lid and removing one, he examined the embossed pill before swallowing it down with some water.

"God dammit," he grumbled, laying on his back in bed, tugging the blankets tightly around himself. He stared at the ceiling, heart beginning to race and his room beginning to spin. He fell asleep quickly, but he did not sleep well.

xxxxxx

Dib's eyes fluttered open to the sound of his alarm going off. "Ughhh," he groaned loudly and rolled over, his head pounding. He shut off his alarm, glaring at the red lights that read 8:00 AM, cursing them, the sunlight piercing his window searing his eyes. At least he got a couple extra hours of sleep on Fridays. Slowly sitting up, Dib went to rub his eyes, realizing that he had left his glasses on all night.

"Christ," Dib murmured to himself, standing up and stretching. He needed a hot shower and some painkillers. He went over to his desk and grabbed the aspirin, taking two while chugging the bottle of water he had left at his desk. He felt dehydrated. Heaving an exasperated breath, he headed into the hall and then the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind him. Promptly, there was a knock on the door.

"Hurry up, _Dib_ , I need to get ready for work," Gaz shouted through the door, and Dib rolled his eyes. Of course she'd wait until he was up, just to give him hell.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be out soon," he grumbled in response. That seemed to please his terrifying sister enough; he heard her footsteps as she left down the stairs, probably to have breakfast. Dib turned on the water to a nice medium-hot temperature, dropped his boxers, and hopped in, letting his mind wander.

 _Knock, knock._

 _The door in front of him opened, and Dib stared at the alien in confusion. "Zim? What are you doing here? You're soaked!"_

 _"_ _Yes, yes, and it BURNS! It BURNSSS! Let Zim in," the alien ordered._

 _"_ _Jesus. Okay, okay. I'll grab a towel," Dib said with a roll of his eyes, tugging Zim inside before hurrying up the stairs and grabbing a towel from the linen closet. He went back down—Zim had shut the door behind him and was snarling. He looked pathetic, and was sizzling slightly._

 _"_ _Is anyone home?"_

 _"_ _Uh—no. Dad took Gaz on a tour of the lab for 'bring your daughter to work day'," Dib replied, and promptly, Zim began tugging off the bulk of his soaked garments—boots, socks, gloves, and then sweater. For now, he also took off his dripping wig and pulled out his contacts, placing them on the small table next to the door. Dib passed him the towel, which Zim yanked from Dib's hands. "Do—uh. Do you need something to change into?"_

 _"_ _Hmph," Zim grunted without a real reply. Dib assumed that was a yes, and with an over-exaggerated roll of his eyes, just so he could be sure Zim saw it, he grabbed the Irken by the hand and dragged him upstairs to his room._

 _"_ _Don't you own an umbrella?" Dib asked, tugging out a pair of black pants and a t-shirt._

 _"_ _Zim did not expect it to begin raining," Zim grumbled, taking the clothes. "Stopping here was quicker than returning to Zim's base."_

 _"_ _Oh," Dib shrugged, "You can change in the bathroom. First door on the right."_

 _Zim turned quickly and went into the bathroom to get changed. Once done he returned to Dib's room. "Yes. Well. Thank you, Dib-_ stink _," Zim grumbled with a nod. "Zim shall leave now."_

 _Dib shook his head. "No, bad idea, you need to let your stuff dry first, or you'll be back where you started when you got here. I'll throw your clothes in the dryer, and put your boots and gloves in front of the space heater." He gently took Zim's damp clothes from him, examining the burns on his fingers. They were already healing. Shaking his head so he wouldn't stare, he trudged downstairs to grab what Zim had left at the front door. He looked up the stairs, where Zim stood, looking confused. "Well? C'mon then, the dryer is downstairs."_

 _Zim nodded silently and followed Dib into the basement, where he threw Zim's clothing into the dryer—with no fabric softener sheet, just in case—and placed Zim's boots and gloves on the floor next to the space heater, which he turned on._

 _They spent the next hour sitting in his dad's lab, exchanging few words. What words they did share, however, had nothing to do with taking over the world. Foiling plans. Being annoying. Just that Zim had been picking up supplies for Gir to bake with, when it started pouring on his way home. Being closer to Dib's house, it was easier to stop there to escape the rain._

 _'He came to me for help?' Dib thought, but didn't say anything._

 _After everything was dry, and Zim had changed, they walked to the front door. Zim was about to leave when Dib stopped him. "Wait a minute."_

 _Zim looked at Dib in annoyance and confusion as Dib opened the closet door, pulling out a jacket, one of his own black trench coats, and an umbrella._

 _"_ _This will—probably be big on you, but. That way you'll stay dry until you get home._

BANG BANG.

Dib snapped out of his trance, shampoo still bubbly in his hair.

"DIB. GET OUT BEFORE I MAKE YOUR LIFE A LIVING NIGHTMARE."

Dib cringed. "Okay, okay! Sorry!" he shouted, then thought, 'Not that you haven't already…', quickly rinsing the shampoo and rubbing himself with soap, rinsing off and hopping out, turning the water off. He wrapped a towel around his waist, opening the door just as Gaz was about to bang on the door, promptly punching Dib in the chest.

"Fuck! Ow!" Dib yelped, taking a step back. There was a split second where Gaz looked almost apologetic, but it faded immediately.

"You deserved that," she grunted, slipping past Dib and shoving him out of the room.

"Jesus…" Dib muttered, rubbing his sore chest and heading to his room to get dressed. The clock read 8:32 AM. "Crap, I was in there for a while," he muttered, pulling his clothes on and grabbing his backpack and keys. "Bye, Gaz!" he shouted loud enough for her to hear, but got no response. He laughed a little and hurried out the door to his car.

Again, he slowed down in front of Zim's house, but this time he didn't stop. The gnomes stayed stagnant, and Gir popped his head up into the curtain and waved enthusiastically to him. Dib smiled weakly, speeding up again as he headed to class.

xxxxxx

Class was over, and it had been a _long. Day_. He felt headachey all morning and afternoon, and had a difficult time focusing in his classes, even after a few large cups of coffee. _'Shit. I have final assignments due soon, too…'_ he thought to himself as he made his way back to the car.

Dib tossed his bag onto the passenger seat, starting his car and turning from the parking lot. He let his mind wander as he drove back toward home, his mind bubbling to memories of high skool. Memories of Zim. Sighing gently, Dib took a left turn instead of driving straight home. After a few more minutes he had arrived. Dib parked on the street, grabbing his phone but leaving his bag in the car. It wasn't like there was anything in there to steal.

Walking past the gnomes, Dib felt himself shiver. They didn't try to shoot at him anymore, but they still turned to follow him up to the door. Dib knocked on Zim's door, finally eye-level with the washroom sign, and within seconds Gir had opened it, squealing, and immediately attaching himself to Dib's head.

"Whu—GAK!" Dib yelped, taking a startled step back and staring in shock at Gir who continued squealing against his head.

"GIR. Get off of the Dib _immediately_!" A shout sounded from inside, and with a squeak, Gir dropped to the ground and ran inside and into the kitchen. Which was covered in pink goo. Dib slowly entered the house, shutting the door behind himself and looking at Zim with a smile on his face.

"Some things haven't changed, eh?" Dib asked, running a hand through his hair nervously, the scythe bouncing above him. Zim shrugged in response, glancing over his shoulder as Gir began ripping apart the kitchen with some new cooking project.

"The Dib has changed very much," Zim said, sitting down on the couch and motioning for Dib to join him. He did, plopping down none-too-gracefully beside Zim.

"I guess, but so have you," Dib said with a shrug, glancing down at his hands.

"Well...The Dib is covered in—pictures," Zim grunted, motioning to the tattoos on Dib's arms. "Irkens do not detail their skin except for...administrative purposes."

Dib glanced down at the tattoos peering from under his sleeves, knowing there were more that Zim hadn't seen. "Well, yeah. I started getting them in college. You know, people always say that once you get one, you can't stop. They're kind of right." Most of the tattoos on his right arm were paranormal related—caricatures of bigfoot and ghosts and other paranormal creatures. On his left arm, he had instead a 'scientific' sleeve: circuit board, a geometric design, some complex chemical compounds, and a section dedicated to space. He smiled weakly. "I have loads now, it's expensive but Dad doesn't seem to care what I use his money for so long as it isn't paranormal. Actually, you might like this one," he murmured softly, tugging his shirt up and off, turning his right side to Zim.

Zim reached out, gently touching the tattoo on Dib's left shoulder blade. "Why did Dib…?"

Dib smiled, tugging his shirt back on quickly so that Zim wouldn't see the scars. "Get the Invader symbol tattooed? I'm not sure. It felt right. After a few years, I felt like…I had kind of let go. Forgotten, even, a little bit. And I didn't want to. So I thought that I should have something there, even if it _was_ all in my imagination like everyone said."

Zim frowned at Dib, opening his mouth to speak when the TV turned itself on, Zek and Nui standing and saluting.

"My Tallest," the two began, which only got a growl out of Zim, "Zim," they corrected.

"We have made some developments on the government security breach. Did you wish to approve before we continue?" Zek asked, lowering his hand from the salute.

Zim shook his head and waved his arm in an, _I really don't care_ manner. "No, Zim trusts your judgements. Do not bother Zim with this right now!"

"But, sir, there are other matters which need to be-"

"NOT RIGHT NOW!" Zim shouted, a hint of his old voice creeping in. It was almost comical.

Zek and Nui looked at each other anxiously, and the screen went black.

Dib frowned, staring at the blank screen, flabbergasted. "That one's skin is white," he said with a raised eyebrow, "Is that unusual?"

Zim nodded. "Yes. Nui is the only Irken Zim has met that has white pigmented skin."

"Wouldn't he have been... culled? By the other Irkens?" Dib questioned, and Zim smirked darkly.

"No. He is a great fighter, and he isn't terribly short. He has always been able to protect himself well. And although he is shorter than Zek and Zim, he has also always been tall enough to gain a fair amount of respect. Skin color, or shade of green more commonly, is of less importance than humans seem to believe it is," Zim said in a matter-of-factly manner, looking at Dib with an expression of, _You-should-know-this._ "The only thing Irkens care about is whether or not you are strong, efficient, smart, and a good soldier. And tall." Zim straightened himself up, proud of his new height.

"Oh," Dib shrugged, rubbing his arms anxiously, despite being able to chuckle at Zim's attitude. He didn't say anything else for a long while, but was beginning to get uncomfortable with Zim staring at him so intently. "It's still so strange for you to be back," he murmured finally, after what felt like ages.

Zim frowned, leaning back against the couch and crossing his arms, one leg lifted over the other knee. "…Yes. Zim supposes it is not as easy for the Dib-huuman, considering how much time five years is to the measly huuman life-span."

Dib laughed weakly. "Yeah. It is a long time, Zim. But because of everything that happened… everyone telling me I was crazy, that you were never here, getting put in the madhouse, going to college and getting rid of all of my paranormal equipment…I had started to move on, you know. I was just starting to get over it when you showed up."

Zim listened to Dib intently, not daring to interrupt until Dib was finished. "Zim understands that this is difficult for Dib. And Zim is willing to give Dib as much time as he needs."

Dib glanced over at Zim, fidgeting uncomfortably. "Why are you being so understanding about this?" he asked, pulling himself straight. "You're… Different."

"Dib. Much has changed since Zim first arrived on earth. I learned that I was defective. You and I became… friends. I fixed my pak. Returned to Irk. Took over my planet. And Zim is not the only one who is _different_."

Zim's words hung in the air as Dib listened quietly. He wasn't sure what to say, how to respond. What could he say? Zim had missed five years of his life. It wasn't an extreme amount of time or anything, but shit. A lot had happened—to the both of them, apparently. And Dib was an adult now, when Zim left they were sixteen.

"Zim understands this is difficult. It is difficult for me, too," Zim finished reassuringly, slowly reaching a gloved, clawed hand to Dib and placing it on his arm.

 _They hugged, once. Late in their friendship, just before he had left. Final year of highschool. Dib wasn't sure what was wrong with Zim, but he had been so… down._

 _"_ _There's nothing I can do to help?" Dib had asked._

 _"_ _Oh quit it, Dib-beast. There is NOTHING wrong with the Almighty ZIM!" Zim had shouted back on their way home from High Skool._

 _"_ _Dude, I just don't believe you. You haven't come up with a new plan to destroy Earth or to impress your Tallest or whatever in ages. And you haven't called me annoying once."_

 _Zim just rolled his contacted eyes. "The filthy Dib-beast IS annoying," he said, but there was no weight to the insult._

 _"_ _Hey," Dib grabbed Zim's sleeve, stopping outside of the alien's house. "You can talk to me."_

 _"…_ _Zim cannot," was the only reply. Quiet. Too quiet for such a loud, obnoxious creature._

 _Dib nodded. "Okay. Then, when you're ready. Or when you can. Do." He tugged on Zim's arm and pulled him in for a hug. "Whatever it is, it'll be okay. It has to be. It always is."_

Now, however, the contact felt strange. They hardly touched when Zim was around, nevermind after disappearing for so long. However, it was welcomed. Dib placed his own five-fingered hand on top of Zim's. Finally, he chucked. "This is bizarre. Look, I came over to help with your project, huh? I have some work of my own to do too. And honestly, your fancy Irken tech was missed."

A chilling grin spread across Zim's face, before it lapsed into the goofy. His teeth seemed sharper now, but it was only for a second that Zim looked—almost evil. A shiver ran down Dib's spine.

"Yes! The Dib is right to have missed our brilliant technology. So advanced! Come to the lab, Dib-huuman," Zim drawled out the suffix, clutching harder onto Dib and dragging him over to… a proper elevator? That was new.

 **A/N edit: Final note. I did update the chapter titles, and in doing so I forgot the A/N for this chapter. Thanks to the new folks reviewing and commenting on the story, I appreciate it! xx**


End file.
